Little Fuzzy by H. Beam Piper

Review by Cyndi J. (cyndij)

On the planet Zarathrustra, the Chartered Zarathrustra Company pretty much owns it all.  They exploit the natural resources, develop what they want, and pretty much run the show without much interference from the Colonial Government. Jack Holloway is an eccentric miner, making his living from sunstones, an exotic fossil that glows with the wearer’s body heat.

Coming back from a day’s hard work, Jack surprises a little creature in his house. It’s cute, it squeaks at him, it’s not particularly afraid, and he feeds it a bit of pre-packaged rations which it really, really likes. Jack decides he wants a pet and calls it “Little Fuzzy”. Before you know it, Little Fuzzy has invited the rest of his family to enjoy the comforts of Jack’s home. But after observing them carefully, Jack thinks that these creatures are really intelligent beings, and he calls in a friend with the government to check it out.  We’re given POV from not just the humans but also Little Fuzzy, so we readers already know they’re intelligent, if childlike.

The Chartered Zarathrustra Company gets wind of Jack’s enquiry and alarm bells go off everywhere. Billions of dollars are at stake, because the Company cannot own a planet if there’s intelligent inhabitants. They hatch a scheme to murder the Fuzzies.  Of course this is going to backfire on them, and we get some tense moments of rescue along with an interesting court trial and vindication for the Fuzzies. To my mind, the trial is the highlight of the book. Justice in action, and the rule of law preserved.

The book veers between very one-dimensional villains and the overly adorable Fuzzies, and serious discussions about what intelligence actually is. There’s an evil corporation, with the government and the military stepping in to save the day, which is kind of odd for the 1960s.  The tone is also somewhat juvenile, but the characters smoke and drink constantly, not to mention the murder.  Despite some of the outdated references, I think this still holds up very well. John Scalzi “rebooted” it several years ago with FUZZY NATION, but this holds its own. It’s a fun, fast read with things to think about.

Black Water Sister by Zen Cho

Review by Cyndi J. (cyndij)

Jessamyn Teoh has graduated Harvard, but she’s unemployed, still living with her parents, and a closeted lesbian.  But her dad’s health isn’t good, they’re also broke and have decided to move back to Malayasia. As a dutiful daughter who truly loves her parents, she’s going too, leaving behind her girlfriend.  They move in with her father’s sister, who has a big house and innumerable relatives who are always dropping in, ready to discuss the failings of anyone in the family.

There’s enough stress that when she starts hearing a voice in her head, she dismisses it at first. But it turns out this is not a hallucination – it’s the ghost of her grandmother Ah Ma, and Ah Ma is capable of taking over Jess’s body. Ah Ma has a purpose in mind, which she tells Jess is to save a particular small temple in danger of being torn down for developers.  Ah Ma was a medium for one of the gods – Black Water Sister – in this temple, and the god is angry.  But the temple’s plight is only an excuse.

As it turns out, Jess is not the only one in this family keeping secrets.  Events careen out of control almost immediately, with Jess alternately attempting to kick Ah Ma out of her head and then beseeching her to come back and help Jess out of life-threatening crises.  To make it even worse, Black Water Sister has taken ominous notice of Jess.

The book starts out feeling rather lighthearted, but it gets quite dark before Jess manages to placate the gods and others.  It does get a bit complicated towards the end, what with all the various shifting relationships and gods appearing and disappearing. The Malaysian setting is great, very different and very vivid, and the dialect makes it come alive. I liked the sense of place and I liked how Cho educated the reader about the gods and cultural practices via Jess, who hadn’t lived in Malaysia since she was a toddler.  I also loved how the family drama just gets deeper and deeper.   A good, fast-paced and intense fantasy.

The Chaos by Nalo Hopkinson

Review by Cyndi J. (cyndij)

I found this YA/teen fantasy to have a very likable heroine, but it’s definitely in the surreal vein.  Sixteen-year-old Soujourner “Scotch” Smith is a normal Toronto high school girl, she’s got friends, thinks her parents are too restrictive, and is eagerly preparing for a dance contest.  There are troubles too, of course – she is on the outs with her ex-BFF for allegedly poaching her boyfriend; her brother was In jail for drug possession; and she’s got some kind of weird  black, sort of sticky substance growing in patches on her. The doctors don’t know what it is, and nothing gets rid of it.  Oh, and she’s seeing weird little animals floating around too.

When her parents head off for a weekend, leaving Scotch and her brother Rich alone, they head off for an illicit visit to a nightclub.   It’s then that chaos really erupts, literally. A bizarre bubble forms in the nightclub, and her brother disappears into it. A volcano forms in Lake Ontario. People turn into bizarre creatures. A giant house on chicken legs is walking around, and the witch inside is taunting Scotch.  Plus there’s a frightening black thing following her as well.

As Scotch careens through the city, her skin getting progressively worse and worse, trying to find her brother and figure out what’s happening, she’s forced to think about her own identity and accept her flaws.

I found the surreal happenings a bit much, but then, the book is about chaos after all.  I recognized several fantasy elements of course, and Hopkinson adds interesting Caribbean elements. You can’t help but like Scotch. With a white Jamaican father and a black Canadian mother, Scotch’s racial identity isn’t immediately obvious to others although she identifies as Black. I really liked the diversity of her friends, her awareness of racism towards her and her darker-skinned brother, and her horror when she herself expresses bias.  Some of it seemed a bit preachy though. Despite her own predicament, Scotch tries to help others too. As the book progresses I couldn’t really see how Hopkinson was going to get her out of it, but it ends happily enough for Scotch and her family, although not for everyone.

It’s an interesting story with a lot of elements to think about. I wouldn’t recommend it to someone who’s never read fantasy before, but if you’re in the mood for something different, give it a try.

The Quiet Tenant by Clemence Michallon

Review by Melissa B. (dragoneyes)

Decoding Gen-Z Slang: Your Guide to Learning, Understanding,
and Speaking the Gen-Z Vernacular by Devon Knott

Review by jjares

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